LOVE is the answer! The consensus among the S.T.P. students was that we should celebrate love 365 days a year, not just on February 14th. We began our STEAM adventure with some fresh air and silly exercise…to love our hearts too…before we settled into our theme on a warm and fuzzy heart filled polar fleece blanket. All agreed, while feeling the blanket, that love makes us feel warm and fuzzy too! We sang a love song the Purple Owls were so kind to share and brainstormed the many ways we can show love to each other. From hugs to kisses and holding hands to helping hands, the responses were many and creative, which was the perfect way to introduce our activity of making homemade paper for love notes.
Using our paper from our class recycling bins we shredded, stirred in water, and got our hands into the wonderful soggy mess of “paper soup.” Each team added their own bit of colored construction paper (from our recycling bins too!) to the mix to see if they could create a color tint. We then blended each groups mixture into an amazing colored pulp “smoothie” before putting our hands back into it to feel the texture, add dried flower petals and flower seeds. Using a a round splatter screen, the teams then spread their paper pulp into a “pizza” before flattening it with towels to squeeze out the excess water. The fully dried and beautiful paper was delivered to the classrooms a few days later!
The students also designed a school wide love note displayed in the hallway, reminiscent of Robert Indiana’s LOVE statue in Love Park in Philadelphia. We studied a handmade poster in its image to guide us in positioning cardboard letters on watercolor paper and sprayed liquified paint, blending colors to create our own LOVE image. Together we dreamed of visiting the statue and its sister statue, AMOR (love in Spanish, located just across the street), on a fun train adventure to the city with our families!
